21 Days
by Fighting-this-War
Summary: You have 21 Days to save the person you love, how far would you go? Despite having not spoken in two years Mulder finds himself drawn back into the FBI when Scully is abducted by someone wanting to get back at him. MSR
1. Prologue

Authors notes:

This is a completed story – just uploading in bits so there will be a full story to read however small things in the story itself has changed several times so there may be portions that have some plot holes – I have gone through numerous times to eradicate these but some may still be there. Same with typos etc. Whilst the story is called 21 Days - it refers to the concept of 21 days so there aren't actually 21 chapters; some days are missed out and this is intentional. Finally I used the name Will Graham and Dr Lecter as I am obsessed with Hannibal and a lot of people are familiar with the story so I wouldn't have to create a whole background however all characters may seem a little out of character at some point – apologies for this I lost my way a bit when writing.

 _Scully had led the final rounds for her day and walked yawning to her car. She frowned when the parking garage lights flickered as she remembered a past life then redistributed her load to get her car keys from her tan cashmere coat pocket, ridiculing herself for still being afraid of the dark. She popped the trunk and nearly flung the files and her case in; it had been a long week and she wanted more than anything to put it behind her. Despite the cold she shrugged her coat off, flexing her aching muscles but as she went to also put it in the trunk she heard a noise that instantly made her freeze and reach for a gun that was no longer there; that hadn't been there for a long time. She shook her head reproachfully and slammed the trunk closed eager to be out of there. In the rear view window she immediately saw a masked figure behind her. With a start she spun to face the assailant but she was out of touch with her former training and he was too fast for her. He slammed her head down on the car trunk, dazing her. With a dull cry she slid to the floor, vision swimming. The man leaned in close to her face but she couldn't say or do anything as her eyes went black and her last conscious thought was of a man she had not seen or spoken to in years._


	2. Day 1

Day 1

"And so ladies and gentleman, that is why we do not approach a known dangerous suspect on our own." Fox Mulder, professor of criminal psychology, faced his hundreds of students and grinned crookedly. A rise of titters spread across the room life wildfire and he signified the end of the lecture. The room emptied as he started packing up his own papers into a leather brief case bought for him by someone his heart still ached for.

When he descended the podium steps he was confronted by two men in suits. Immediately he recognized the men from their demeanor and dress and sighed.

"You boys look a little old and serious to be taking my class but the more the merrier." He joked sardonically as he passed between them hoping to shake their presence from his tail but they insisted on following him.

"Agent Mulder," the tall man said.

"Professor Mulder now," Mulder corrected, feeling an odd sense of nostalgia at the use of his former title.

"Professor Mulder, we are both very familiar with your work on the X Files, we're big fans." The shorter and fatter agent said almost sincerely and Mulder looked for traces of exaggerated flattery.

"Well you've both come a long way just to get an autograph." Mulder said flatly. "And anyway it wasn't just my work." He averted his gaze momentarily, unhappy to deal with members of the same organization who destroyed his work so long ago, destroyed his life.

"That's actually what we're here to talk to you about." The shorter one was in back in charge and Mulder feared being dragged back into the bureau.

As the trio moved into the busy courtyard of Dartmourth University Mulder eyed the bustling students hurrying to get to class but the occasional straggler stopped to peer at the men in black. With a sign Mulder led them to his office which was surprisingly tidier than the old basement office he used to have. He sat behind his desk with baited breath, waiting for them to continue; later he would wish they hadn't.

"The past eight months we've been chasing a serial adductor operating across Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. A total of 12 people have disappeared in circumstances that leave bare minimum evidence, and no connection between victim." The agent paused mid dog-and-pony-act and Mulder nodded slowly.

"I'm aware of the case." He said blankly. "Five women and 7 men so far and only 9 bodies found, mutilated almost beyond all normal methods of recognition. And in each of the cases there is no connection between the victims, or to the apparent abductor." He only knew what had been reported in the papers but his knowledge appeared to impress his visitors. "So how is it I can help you?" He asked somewhat suspiciously as he leaned back in his chair.

"Well in each of the kidnappings a letter or note was left for the victim's loved one to find, not quite a ransom but not a sonnet either." Mulder made no comment and waited for the man to continue. He was so focused on the dominant skinny agent he didn't see the larger one reach into his Willet pocket and bring our a piece of paper sealed in a clear evidence bag. When Mulder saw it from his side of the table he eyed the two agents cautiously before taking it. He scanned over it silently;

 _Little spooky fox, caught in a trap,_

 _Got himself all in a flap._

 _Cry cry cry does his little redhead,_

 _Hope he can find her before she is dead._

He tried dissecting the words in his head, spinning them over and over and twisting them but he gave up and looked hard at the two men. A cold feeling started creeping stealthily through his veins.

"What is this?" He said feeling a distance, yet familiar fear hammering at the back of his mind.

"There's been a thirteenth abductee, a doctor in Virginia, this note was left by her car."

"Her?" Mulder inquired instinctively and the agents shared an anxious glance.

"Yes, we think the note was for you."

"For me? Based on what, Fox? I don't think I know anyone in Virginia." He lied, though unsure why; perhaps to quell the feeling that he knew what they were going to say before they said it.

"Well like I said that note was found by the victim's car and the victim is a Doctor Dana Scully." Though he had known this was the line of enquiry, it still felt like a cold bullet to his even colder heart.

* * *

Darkness was the first thing Scully saw when she opened her eyes, head pounding furiously. She tried to look around , tried to sit up but failed. She wondered if the darkness was real or only in her mind. She tried to sit again but froze when she heard shuffling to her right. Fear flooded her system making her blood stop right in her veins.

"Hello?" She called huskily. The shuffling stopped and her breath hitched. The noise grew closer.

"Hello," a young girl's voice came from a space too close to her head and it made her jump. The pain in her head intensified until she was sure she'd pass out again.

"Who are you?" She demanded, clearing her throat to sound stronger.

"My name is Lucy, I've been here for a few days." The girl said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She could not be more than 20.

"Where is here?" Scully asking forcing calmness into her voice as she used to former training to squash the rising panic.

"I don't know. There are others though. I saw a man yesterday who went away and didn't come back and a woman was in your space until two nights ago." The girl responded in a voice that belied her 20 years. Scully shut her eyes and tried to wake herself from the nightmare.

"Hello? Is there someone else there?" A desperate male voice called from the left somewhere. His voice was strained and broken. Scully whipped her painful head around.

"Hello." The girl said with vigor as if she was a young girl at a party not a 20 year old woman trapped in a dark cell.

"Who's there?" The man said with a voice devoid of hope.

"I'm Lucy," the girl said.

"I'm Dana," Scully offered weakly, mentally trying to work out the size of the room. "What about you?"

"Mike." He said and the forthcoming silence was broken by the sound of metal rattling.

"Oh my god I'm in a cage!" He almost screamed, panic overwhelming him.

"Shh, you'll bring him back." Lucy hushed him urgently, sounding panicked herself but this did not stop the man from howling.

"Lucy who will come back?" Scully demanded of the young girl but she had shrunk into the corner of her cage and was crying pitifully. "Lucy! Who will come back? WHO?" Scully cried desperately and rushed forward to speak to the girl but ran head first into her own cage.

Then the overhead strip lighting snapped on and the door flung open. With the bright lights on, after being momentarily blinded and adjusting, Scully was able to get a full layout of the room. Through what felt like a newborn's eyes she was able to made out 4 caged off sections with a narrow walkway of no more than 2 feet between them. At the end of the walkway was a small square window high up on the wall which allowed the moon to trickle in. The young girl, whom Scully could now see crying softly in the corner was in a cage next to her on her right. Opposite Scully's cage was man who wasn't much younger than Mulder. The thought of him made her chest ache. Next to the Mike's and opposite Lucy was an empty cage showing remnants of someone who had previously been evacuated. A figure moved down the walkway slowly and insidiously.

"Hey! Hey you can't keep us locked up like dogs!" Scully argued diplomatically, her face pressed against the bars of her cage. The man moved with unnatural speed and in a heartbeat his inhuman features were mere millimeters from her face. It startled her enough to make her jump back despite her rising nausea.

"Ah Doctor Scully, welcome to your humble abode." The man drawled in a malicious tone that made her shiver.

"THIS IS INHUMANE!" The man shouted from the corner and the figure moved almost gracefully over to the man in the corner, pressing his grotesque face against the bars.

"It would do you well to keep quiet son, you're going to be here a while." Their captor said calmly and turned his attentions away from Mike who had started to weep mutely. "And I HATE noise!" The captor bellowed unexpectedly, screaming straight at Mike who howled in mental anguish and flung himself at the back corner of his cage. The evil entity laughed joyously to himself as Scully watched the exchange in horror, her own eyes clouded by crystal unshed tears. The man passed by her cage again flashing an inhuman smile and with that he was across the threshold and he slammed the door loudly. The lights however were left on and Scully watched the other two as she retreated to lay on the mattress bare and hard but a welcome change to the cold hard floor.

Whilst the other two occupants of this prison had already been broken by their predicament Scully's analytical mind was working hard as she evaluated her surroundings; each 'cell' had nothing but a mattress with a limp hessian blanket and straw pillow. She watched as Lucy weakly crawled onto her mattress like a dejected puppy and sobbing, she pulled the blanket over her to hide.

Mike sat rigid against the wall at the back of his cell, picking at the breeze block wondering if he could dig his way out.

Without warning the lights shut off and the trio were plunged into darkness save for the pale moonlight shining through the window. With a sigh she took off her Willet, rolled it into a ball and laid down. She lay there for several minutes before wondering what the time was. She ended up fumbling in the dark for her watch (the one HE bought her) but there was nothing enclosed on her wrist; it had been lost in the struggle at the hospital. She felt a severe sense of desolation and began to cry quietly.


	3. Day 3

Mulder received the call from Skinner about an hour before dawn, just as he had been dozing off on the couch but he was now wide awake as he drove the arduous commute to the J Edgar Hoover building as quickly as the law had allowed, and then some.

"What is it? What happened?" Was the first thing he said frantically as he catapulted down the hallways straight to Skinner's office. Skinner stood despondently at the window whilst the other agents sat on the two chairs so often occupied by Mulder and Scully a decade ago. They argued incessantly between themselves.

"What is it!?" Mulder shouted unable to keep the impatience from his voice.

"This was delivered for your attention." Agent Kennison chucked a brown envelope across the desk.

"There's no trace evidence on the inside or the outside. This guy went to great pains to make sure he left nothing he didn't want us to have." Agent Roberts finished for his colleague.

Heart hammering Mulder reached over the table for the package, noting his name on the address label. He swallowed and reached into the brown package, pulling out a note and a clear plastic evidence bag. Without looking at his new colleagues he saw the blond-red hairs in the bag. He didn't need ESP or DNA testing to hazard a guess at the owner. He held the bag a little longer than would be deemed professional as he thought about the thousands of times he had run his hands through that hair; how he had watched the back of it as she walked away from him.

"You need to get his down to DNA." He said breathily handing the bag back to Kennison before turning his attentions to the letter. He presumed the others had already read it, since they had already read and processed HIS mail, so he chose to read it in his head but he couldn't help but notice the others watching him intently. He finished reading and stared straight ahead processing the information. Then he focused on the packet again, checking the return address; there was none. The post mark was un-unique , and Mulder felt a sense of defeat. He turned the note over as if hoping for more and noticed a single line of letters and numbers along the back. With a start he tried not to show the others signs of recognition. He knew it was a case number but did not recall which. Finally he said, "there's nothing here." The others sagged under the weight of the disappointment. Mulder memorized the case number and made his excuses.

He almost ran to Archives. He knew the case was not an X File but he had not prepared to feel such a sense of helplessness when he located the actual file. Will Graham – the name meant nothing to him at first and he sat back in quiet anguish. After a moment of quiet seething he opened the file, flicking through the case details. Graham had been a fellow bureau agent in 1988 working in the Violent Crimes department that was finally arrested on suspicion of murder after a new agent in the same Violent Crimes Unit provided a profile that led to his capture. After an arduous trial he was committed to the Baltimore State Mental Hospital for the Insane due to an exaggerated violent personality disorder though it was never clear whether he was guilty of the crimes alleged. Mulder could see no connection to himself or to Scully since neither had worked on the case; Mulder wasn't even sure Scully was with the bureau then. He read through the evidence list, his eyes stopping at one line;

 _'Criminal profile by Agent 22791'_

The use of agent numbers instead of names provided protection for testifying and investigating agents but also removed any chance for error. Mulder didn't need to check the agent directory to know whom the number referred; he knew his own agent number off by heart. However this provided the smoking gun he had hoped for and he rushed back upstairs to meet his colleagues.

"This is the guy." He slapped the file down on Skinner's desk surprising all three occupants of the room. Kennison glanced at, flicking through the evidence sheets and documents inside then passed it to Roberts.

"How do you know?" Skinner was the first to ask and Mulder showed him the string of characters on the back.

"When I first came to Violent Crimes, I was asked to help on a case where 3 victims had turned up with various organs missing. my profile pointed at an FBI agent in my unit, a well respected agent I hardly knew, who was charged with the murders. At the time he claimed his psychiatrist was framing him so his mental health came under fire especially when his psychiatrist was forced to testify against him" He explained and Skinner considered this.

"Presumably if he was prosecuted he would have been sentenced to death or at the very least still be in jail? And why go after you and not the psychiatrist?" He questioned.

"I checked the file. His mental health was evaluated and thanks to this psychiatrist he managed to be admitted to a hospital for 15 years instead of jail or the death sentence. Maybe he didn't know where to find the psychiatrist – there's reports he fled to Florence and there's no mention of the psychiatrist after the verdict." Mulder shrugged.

"Okay well we have no other leads so Roberts, Kennison look into this Graham. I want to know if he has any connections to any of the other victims." Skinner commanded and the two agents shared a glance.

"We'll have to clear that with our AD, sir." Roberts said reluctantly. Skinner glared at him.

"Well go and do that then!" He snapped, feeling the beginning of a migraine. He shared a weary look with Mulder who shrugged non-committedly; these boys were obviously fairly new to the bureau and liked to do things by the book. Mulder wondered if Skinner missed the insubordination he subjected his boss to for all those years.


	4. Day 4

Day 4

"Dana?" In the dark the word sounded lost but Scully sat up awkwardly.

"Yeah?" She asked with a desolate sigh.

"Are you afraid?" Lucy asked in a child's voice and Scully thought hard before answering.

"No," She finally said but she was unsure if it was a lie or not.

"Why not? I'm so scared I can barely breathe." The girl's voice hitched and Scully was left wondering how to answer that.

"I'm not sure, I'm just not." That was a definite lie.

"I'm terrified of death." Lucy said sounding far more grown up than her years allowed.

Scully's head swiveled around to look at her in the dark; _who mentioned death?_ "You're not going-"

"My brother will never sacrifice himself for my release, he doesn't love me enough." Lucy cut her off and Scully shivered in horror.

"I'm sure that's not true." Was all she could say.

"I hope whoever you're being held for loves you more than my brother loves me." The young girl said.

"Both of you shut up or you'll get us all killed!" Mike snapped from his corner cell and Scully was left pondering the girl's words. _Did_ Mulder still love her even after how she'd left him? Did she even want him to still love her? Her heart ached thinking about him but she couldn't stop. His boyish yet handsome face kept swimming around in front of her eyes and finally she laid back down thinking of how their life should have been; Mulder, William, and her. They could have even had a little dog. At the thought she sat bolt upright.

Ishmael! She cried to herself in the dark. She wondered who would be taking care of him. She told herself, only half successfully, that Marlene downstairs would look after him. It didn't matter that the old woman didn't have a spare key, it didn't matter that she wouldn't even know she was missing, all that mattered was the lie she had to tell herself.

When she was sure she had only been asleep a few hours she was awoken by the sound of guttural screams and she awoke in time to see Lucy being dragged into the small office. She did not return until near daybreak and Scully couldn't fight the rising concern. Mike had started crying again, great big sobs that shook his whole body.

"We're going to die! We're all going to die." He screamed and Scully cast a nervous glance at the door.

"Hey Mike! You've got to be quiet!" She hissed trying to draw on her training. He stopped screaming but continued weeping loudly. "Mike listen to me, we are not going to die. You've got to hold it together." She said with enough firmness that short of smacking his cheek, brought him out of his hysteria.

He didn't speak for the remainder of the day but the silence was broken by the door being swung open. Scully's breath hitched when she saw Lucy's pallid tear stained face and a red bandage covering her right hand. The contractor followed her to her cage and she limped in. When she turned to lie on the bed Scully noticed a growing red patch on her left flank and swallowed hard.

Anton, face grizzled leaned in close to Scully's cell. "Would you care to join me Dr Scully?" It was a question but there was only one answer so she obeyed, following him into his office as she feared her fate.


	5. Day 6

Day 6

"Mulder, the hairs are Doctor Scully's." Roberts had apparently been tasked with the unpleasant job of telling Mulder as soon as he got into the office that morning. He sighed; this was not unexpected.

"We also have a problem with your Will Graham theory – turns out that he was carted off id sentence to a prison unit until he attacked a prisoner, ripping his tongue clean out his mouth and was sent back. He's still at Baltimore State now." Kennison appeared from behind his partner. Mulder frowned, disappointed and feeling more helpless than before as he slid into his chair and covered his eyes. The two agents hovered self consciously by the door; despite previously stating an interest in the X Files, both disliked being down in the basement office. The phone rang on Mulder's old desk and he leaned over automatically to answer it.

"Agent Mulder I have a call for you from a Mr Crawford," the switchboard receptionist told him and patched the call through before he could say anything. The name meant little to him.

"Hello?" The voice came through the phone and it was the first time Scully had heard his voice for over 2 years. Her heart pounded

"Mr Mulder?" Her captor said silkily.

"Speaking." Mulder said disinterested.

"I have something here that means a great deal to you." The voice said and suddenly Mulder's stance changed.

"It's him," He mouthed to his colleagues and immediately they jumped into action, calling in traces whilst Mulder set his audio recorder to 'record'.

"I'm listening." He said coolly to the man on the phone, trying to keep his voice level.

"I want a million dollars delivered to The Virginia Capitol Building Saturday night at 10pm." The voice was smooth and Mulder couldn't place it. It didn't make sense to him; their suspect never asked for a ransom previously.

"Okay but how do I know she's still alive?" He said eying his colleagues.

"She is, I can't guarantee for how long though." Came the response.

"Let me talk to her, then I'll get your million dollars." He said calmly. Mulder heard movement as the phone was handed over, then a familiar voice.

"Hey," She said as it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Hey, how's it going?" He asked, his heart throbbing in his chest.

"I've been better." She said deadpanned and Mulder fell silent; he had so much he wanted to say but couldn't so he resorted to keeping it casual.

"Just hang in there, we're gonna find you and I won't let him hurt you." He said firmly and then the phone was yanked away from her.

"3 days Mr Mulder," the voice of Scully was replaced by the cold gravelly voice of her captor.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Mulder snarled and Scully closed her eyes in mental pain.

Beside her the man laughed. "Well that all depends on you doesn't it, Agent Mulder."

"You hurt her and I'll kill you." Mulder threatened but the phone clicked dead in his hand. He smashed it back into the cradle and looked at his uncomfortable colleagues. "The trace?" He asked them. Roberts shook his head apologetically.

"We lost it." He announced and Mulder sighed.

"Okay so we gotta apply to your assistant director for the ransom, we leave it where he says." Mulder's demeanor perked up slightly but Kennison eyed Roberts cautiously.

"Mulder, that's not going to happen." He said not unkindly but Mulder wouldn't accept that.

"We have to try." Was all he said and then he was out the door.

"We have millions of dollars in a reserve account for emergencies such as this, all I need is a million dollars to get Scully back." Mulder pleaded with the man 'upstairs', director Grimes, a formidable man that had taken over from Kersh 6 years ago and was a thousand times worse. He had no kindness in his eyes and ice in his heart. He looked back at Mulder blankly, Skinner looking awkward to his right and the two younger agents sitting beside Mulder.

"I'm going to ignore how you know about such things that do not concern you in the least, and refer straight to policy; we do not negotiate with-" The man started to say but Mulder interrupted him, already aware of policy.

"This is not about policy sir, this is about a woman's life, a woman who worked here for almost a decade!" He cried, frustration evident. Skinner crossed his arms in distant sympathy for his returned agent.

"Agent Mulder I'll remind you to keep you emotions in check. We do not and will not negotiate with terrorists am I clear?" Grimes stared coldly at Mulder who was becoming angrier the more helpless he felt.

"Very." He sneered and stormed from the room retreating to his familiar basement office. As he went he mentally assessed his assets – he had about fifty thousand dollars in a savings account and a hundred and seventy five thousand in the college pension fund that he could liquidate, his house was worth at least another seventy five.


	6. Day 7

Day 7

He didn't tell the others he was leaving for Connecticut, he just left Ishmael with Marlene and caught the first flight out of Virginia. He had not slept in 36 hours by the time he had gotten in to see his bank manager the next morning. He tapped his foot nervously as he awaited for the smarmy man to come back with a decision.

"Good news Mr Mulder, today we can offer you a second mortgagee value of one hundred thousand dollars on a 7 percent APR repayable over 10 years. In your bank in 24 hours." The man had the best selling skills he had ever seen but he sighed in relief.

"Great, thank you." He said as he took the form handed to him. After the bank he went straight to the Bursar office at the college where he hope to have the same luck.

"Hey Janey," he greeted the bursar receptionist who usually sent his pay slips.

"Hey Fox," She smiled in away that showed she had wanted more from him. He either ignored her advances or pretended not to notice. He had however allowed her to call him Fox, like the rest of the staff.

"I need a meeting with the boss." He told her seriously, referring to the head bursar and head of HR. She nodded and looked through the schedule for her boss.

"He's not free until tomorrow afternoon. I can pencil you in then?" She said and Mulder blew out a frustrated breath.

"I gotta be back in DC by then." He groaned and she leaned back, twirling the pen in her fingers in a way she thought was alluring and tantalizing.

"Oh yeah I heard you'd been drawn back into the FBI, must be pretty exciting." She grinned and Mulder grew impatient; he didn't have time for this.

"It's only temporary." He grumbled and she leaned forward conspiratorially.

"I tell you what, you let me cook you dinner tonight and I'll get you in first thing tomorrow. She grinned and Mulder cringed inwardly wondering the best way to explain that the reason he needed the money so urgently was to save the life of a woman he loved more than life itself. He opened his mouth to respond but as if by magic of interference his cellphone began chirping. He smiled his apology and answered the call walking a few feet away from the desk.

"Mulder where are you?" Skinner asked non-accusingly and he sighed.

"I'm in Connecticut, I'm trying to get the-" He paused as he turned o note that Janey was working hard not to look like she was listening. He smiled his excuses then left the plush office before turning his attention back to his other boss. "I'm trying to raise the funds." He said.

"Mulder forget Grimes, I'm going to authorize the million dollars." Skinner said hushed.

"Sir your job-" Mulder was in awe and suddenly felt a great platonic love for his boss.

"Screw my job! This is Scully we're talking about!" He hissed and Mulder nodded to himself.

"Thank you Sir, I'll get the first flight back tonight." When he hung up he ducked back into the office. "Cancel that meeting Janey, I gotta go back to DC tonight." He said cheerfully and she looked at her computer in disappointment.

"Okay Fox, see you real soon!" She forced in her faux cowgirl accent.


	7. Day 9

Day 9  
Skinner made sure Grimes didn't know about the money but also put a tracking strip in 5 of the bundles. He had piled the money for Mulder in a standard black backpack and watched as Mulder put it in is rental. He had offered to go with the agent but Mulder had declined. He drove the money to Scully's, picked Ishmael up from Marlene and the pair went for a walk around the Virginia Capitol Building. Impatient Mulder looked down at his watch, 9.45. He looked over to the pillar where he had left the money whilst trying to look like he wasn't watching it avidly. 10.30 came and went. Ishmael barked so Mulder threw his ball waiting for him to bring it back before throwing it again. 11.45 ticked by and Mulder sat still as a rod even as the heavens opened and it started to rain. When it got torrential he opened his coat and tucked the small dog in there. He sat for hours but nothing happened and no one came. He grabbed the bag and called Skinner from the car.

"He didn't show. He must have known I was there." He said sadly and Skinner sighed in frustration. It didn't matter to him that it was 2am; ever since Sharon had left him his sleep was out of sync with the rest of the world but he kept his voice down regardless, perhaps out of habit.

"How could he? We don't even know who HE is?" He asked frustrated. Mulder fell silent as he pulled up in front of the apartment building.

"It's something to do with Graham I know it is! He must have got someone to act on his behalf. We need to check his visitor logs." Mulder despite himself couldn't help yawning.

"I'll get Kennison and Roberts to have a look this morning. Go home and get some sleep Mulder, come in late tomorrow-today." Skinner felt sleep beginning to claim him again.

"Okay," Mulder said blankly and hung up. He drove to his temporary home in silence and first dried off the wet dog before he collapsed on the couch fully intending to lie down and get some sleep but as he sat there in the dark he felt an overwhelming crush of defeat washing over him and he placed his head in his hands and began to cry; loud, soul destroying sobs. Ishmael jumped up onto the couch and placed a gentle paw on his thigh. Without looking Mulder hugged the small animal tight to him.

"Lucy," Scully called quietly to Lucy in the cell next door. She had been stuck in the same room for 9 days and she had started to lose hope. Lucy shuffled in painfully around to meet her cell mate. Her pallid face was illuminated by the waning moon as it began its daily fight to outshine the rising sun.

"Yeah?" She asked meekly. It had been 5 days since she had returned from the office minus a finger and a kidney and the pain riddled her insides like cancer.

"Your wounds, are they throbbing?" Scully asked. Ridiculous as it sounded even to her she found herself needing to work, to care for a patient even in the dire situation she was in. She hoped by focusing her attention on caring for someone else she might be able to ignore her inevitable fate.

"A little." The girl said timidly and Scully nodded fearing the onset of infection. She doubted the 'operating room' used to carry out this barbaric slaughter would be humane let alone clean and sterilized. The girl pulled up the back of the t-shirt with her uninjured hand and hissed as the cold air penetrated the red enflamed skin. Scully frowned as she got the best look possible in the low light.

"Next time you go to the bathroom wash the area with warm water and soap. How's your hand?" She asked gently and the girl shrugged painfully unwilling to surrender her hand for examination.

"What difference does it make? He's going to kill us all anyway!" Mike grumbled from the corner causing a sob to erupt from Lucy's mouth.

"That's not helping!" Scully snapped reproachfully and he shrank back into his corner but as Scully turned to talk to Lucy again she had already crawled back onto her bed, her back to the world as she became more withdrawn into herself. Scully sighed and moved back over to her own bed dejectedly.

As the moon died and the sun regrew she began to wonder just what her future was going to be and whether she would even have one. She thought about all the mistakes she had made in her life, all the people she loved who she'd said goodbye to. She thought about her son for what felt like the first time in a long time and the image of his smiling face from years ago brought a stifled tear to her eye as she wondered where he would be now.


	8. Day 10

Day 10

Mulder didn't bother going to the bureau late; he had not slept anyway and so was at work even before his colleagues who were surprised to see him there.

"Mulder where have you been?" Roberts asked.

Mulder, unsure how to answer that since he was unaware of the story Skinner had spun simply said "I took some time to sort some things back home." A satisfactory answer apparently.

Skinner wasn't so surprised to see Mulder that morning; he hadn't really expected him to come in late and so proceeded to give out instructions to the two younger agents letting Mulder take care of himself.

Mulder however found himself at a loss a mere two hours later – Graham had not had any visitors other than a state appointed psychiatrist, not Dr Lecter who had never been seen again and he had no known associations since he had left the mental hospital the first time. He sat staring at his screen cracking sunflower seeds with his teeth when his phone rang shrilly; his cellphone this time.

"Hello?" He said heavily, not recognizing the number.

"Agent Mulder, I'm impressed you actually managed to get the money together." The insidious voice purred through the receiver. 

"I showed, where were you?" Mulder hissed, his patience evaporating.

"Oh Mr Mulder, it's never about the money." The voice said.

"Well what is it about then?" He asked, doing his best to stay calm.

"Repentance." Was all the man said. The harsh voice came out in a cackle and then the phone clicked dead. Mulder looked at it for a minute then chucked it on the desk angrily. It was all a game it seemed and he didn't know the rules. He looked at the small amount of notes he had subconsciously taken. They didn't reveal much, if anything he didn't know already. Repentance was a word he had written and circled multiple times as if trying to find meaning with each pass of the pen. He spent the next few minutes thinking about what it meant but his reverie was interrupted by the arrival of the post cart. It was pushed by a young nerdy guy who reminded him a little of himself at that age.

"Hey," he said nonchalantly as the man approached him bringing a brown papered package. "Thanks." He said as he was handed the bundle and when their brief exchange was over the guy shuffled out back to his cart. Mulder stared at the word on his notepad longer and harder, ignoring the package on his desk marked for his attention. He thought of Will Graham – he clearly had something to do with the situation; maybe a relative holding Mulder responsible but it was over twenty years ago and he struggled to see how Graham would be aware of Scully's or his connection to her. He reasoned anyone could research their professional connection, see that they were partners for nearly a decade but it was impossible for the man to know about his personal connection with her. He tried not to focus on the ache building in his chest as he wrote his thoughts about possible leads. Once he was tapped out he turned his attention to the package. He immediately felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he ran his eyes over the brown paper, over the all too familiar handwriting. He hesitated wondering whether to take the package upstairs then after a beat, deciding he couldn't wait, grabbed a pair of latex gloves and gently peeled open the seal. Inside was a small nondescript black box. Mulder swallowed dryly as he lifted the lid revealing much to his horror a severed finger. He felt a rising ball of nausea in his stomach and swallowed hard to quell it. Despite his building panic he fought to remind himself it might not even be hers. Besides, he told himself, he had a job to do. He took a deep breath and put the package back together and went to find the others.

Within a few hours Mulder found himself in the cold FBI half lab staring at a severed finger believed to be female, trying to remember whether he had even seen Scully wear violet nail varnish. With that thought he wondered if her tastes could have changed in the two or so years they'd been apart. He didn't think he knew her anymore so it was entirely possible. That familiar ache returned.

"We have an index finger severed at the third knuckle. Looks to be female. Besides blood tests back at Quantico to confirm it belongs to your missing agent there isn't a lot more I can tell you I'm afraid." The medical examiner told Mulder and skinner apologetically. Skinner nodded gravely but Mulder remained silent, trying desperately hard not to think of her hands clasped in his, their fingers entwined. He tried to block the thought of her hands running through his hair. Finally, he turned back to skinner.

"Where are Laurel and Hardy?" He asked with only a faint flicker of his humor. Skinner had worked with him long enough previously to instantly know who he meant.

"They are checking hospital phone records for Graham – they haven't found anything of particular interest. He didn't place any calls to convicted criminals. They are still checking through." He told him.

"Get those DNA results to us as soon as possibly Marty," he said to the examiner then steered Mulder from the room. 

"Did Graham have any brothers, sisters?" Skinner asked when they rounded the corner and rejoined the living.

"I'm not sure, there wasn't much about family in the initial case from what I've read just that Graham was brought up in a series of care homes after his father murdered his mother and her lover. His only known relationships were with a Doctor Du Maurier whom he became friends with when he entered the FBI, and later his psychiatrist Doctor Lecter but no one has heard from him since Graham went into hospital and he was last seen with a blonde woman in Florence. There were no records to say whether he had any siblings before he went into care." As Skinner digested the information Mulder thought back to the man that he had faced once, not long out of the academy himself. "You know there is still one thing that's bothering me."

Skinner looked to him evidently a little surprised by Mulder suddenly opening up. "What?" he asked plainly.

"How would he know that I'd come back to the bureau? And clearly this is about something I've done; someone holds me responsible for Graham's situation so why would they bring Scully into this? And how would they know to? I haven't seen or spoken to her for 2 years, how could they know that to destroy me, all he-" he broke off abruptly, not quite ready to talk about his relationship with his boss. "I'm thinking I need to speak to Graham." He finished lamely instead.

Before he had even finished Skinner was shaking his head profusely. "Absolutely not! Out of the question. If we want any chance of prosecuting this guy you cannot go anywhere near Graham!" He told him reasonably but Mulder was not in a state to listen to reason.

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't care about convicting this guy, I just want to find Scully." Seething inside, he forced his voice to be level.

"I understand that Mulder, I really do but you gotta do this by the book – this is my not just my case, I can't cover your ass." Skinner lowered his irritation and clamped a hand on Mulder's shoulder comfortingly. Mulder nodded begrudgingly though he was unsure whether he would obey the order in the long run.

"So what do we do? Wait for the tests to come back on this finger? If Kennison and Roberts can't find any numbers of interest where do we go from there?" Mulder asked trying hard to keep the desperation from creeping into his voice. Somehow Skinner heard it anyway.

"Mulder we've found people on less." He reminded the younger man who reluctantly agreed.

Though daylight streamed through the tiny window at the end, the distinct lack of adequate windows made it harder to see details across the room. Evidently Kurelov had thought this also because as he approached Lucy's cell he turned the overhead strip lighting in order to see her clearer. The lighting however gave the room a laboratory feel. When he looked at the girl he almost looked remorseful and despite her wounded hand and back she showed no emotion until he stepped into her cell and pulled out a hunting knife. Her eyes widened and she began to back herself against corner of the inner cell wall. Heavy great sobs broke the fragile silence. Scully watched in horror, her eyes darting from the imminent abuse then over to Mike who ignored the scene as if it wasn't happening. She knew deep down he was right; to survive somewhere like this the best course of action would be to keep one's head down and be invisible but she couldn't stand by and do nothing. Against every ingrained survival instinct, she threw herself at the inner bars.

"Stop!" She cried, unsure what else to say.

"I'm sorry Doctor Scully but her brother was unable to show repentance and his time's up." Their captor said sinisterly and grabbed the young girl by the hair pulling her out of the corner and towards him. Scully got the cold impression of a hunter holding its prey by the scruff of its neck. Lucy screamed wildly, thrashing side to side like a squealing piglet and whilst the noise was deafening Kurelov showed no sign he heard her.

"Stop!" She shouted over the nose again but he didn't and tears sprung to the doctor's eyes; she had seen enough darkness in the world to know what was coming next but that didn't mean she knew how to deal with it in front of her eyes, she had taken that part of her old life and locked it in an unlock-able safe. In the past 2 years she had manually forced her brain to forget every ounce of her old life, suppressing every moment of training that did not relate to saving someone's life. At least she thought she had. "Lucy! Look at me!" She called, gripping the metal bars so hard her knuckles went white. Lucy flailed around, her eyes screaming fear. The knife made a sickening crunch as it slid into the girl's belly and scratched against her pelvis. Lucy made no sound save for a mild gasp as shock set in.

"No!" Scully screamed in horror. The voice bounced around the cold room. Kurelov pulled the knife upwards, gutting the girl like a boar and grunted angrily when the blade momentarily dug into the ribs and wouldn't budge. With effortless strength he pulled hard and the knife was released splattering blood in an arch. Scully's mouth formed a horrified 'o' shape as the blood drops flecked her skin. With a wet splash Lucy's organs fell to the floor in a mess followed by the rest of her. Kurelov wiped the knife down whilst Mike vomited noisily in his cell. He looked at Scully's tear stained face contorted in horror and smiled.

"You'd better hope Mr Mulder feels the need to repent for his sins." He said softly almost regretfully. When he left the occupants alone with the metallic smell of blood to comfort them Mike finally spoke.

"Who's Mulder?" He asked conversationally as if to engage her. She stared at the space where the young girl's eviscerated body lay and slowly scrubbed at her face with her sleeve until her skin was sore and she was sure the blood was gone. She turned to Mike, unsure how to answer him; she didn't particularly want to get into a conversation with him.

"He err – he was someone I used to work with. He's someone I cared a great deal about." She said thickly, blinking away the fresh tears that threatened to fall; it hurt her physically and mentally to talk about him.

"What did he do?" Mike asked and Scully frowned. "This terrible sin? What was it?" She had no idea how to answer that either.

"He was just doing his job." Her voice broke subtly.


	9. Day 13

Day 13

"Finger is not a match to former agent Scully." The medical examiner announced with a weary flourish; weekends meant nothing to the bureau and he was definitely not annoyed about having to miss his family reunion for this. He especially didn't give thought to the agents who had to spend half their time in Washington DC and the other half here, at Quantico. Mulder looked up expectedly as he tried to ignore the looks of surprise across his colleagues' faces. Though he felt relief that Scully had not been subjected to torture it meant they were no closer to finding her.

Kennison pulled out a wad of papers from a brown dossier folder. Across the paper were lists of numbers, some highlighted. "These are the phone records of Will Graham, we highlighted all the numbers that showed up more than once, then cross referenced those with numbers on his 'accepted callers' list – friends, family, his doctors; those who are allowed to visit, write, whatever. Two numbers showed up multiple times but neither number appear on the safe list. One we have tracked to Italy – we can't tell where but we know it's Italian. That would suggest his former psychiatrist would be in touch still but we've been unable to locate this mystery psychiatrist or his blonde companion. Anyway this final number here, that is an unlisted landline number. We've tried calling it but it seems to be barred to incoming calls implying it's one of these modern phone boxes but we can't be certain." He explained at great length and detail but he sounded defeated. Mulder however had had less to go on before.

"What about the number that called my office?" he asked hopefully.

"Well we weren't able to complete the trace so would only be able to make a partial match." Roberts said with a half shrug.

Outside of Charlestown, West Virginia a lonely man walking his dog, an old collie that had been his only companion since his wife had passed 10 years ago, was about to discover something his eyes, failing as they were, would not be able to un-see. The man watched the dog, Charlie, cock his led against a tree then ample slowly off into some bushes. In Autumn it was bitterly cold and the man shivered as he entered an area of the park that the waning sun didn't reach. The dog loped to a stop somewhere to his left, its focus pulled to an area of freshly disturbed dirt. Despite its growing age and grey mottled fur, the dog clawed at the ground with renewed vigor. It growled weakly as it uncovered its prize. The old man felt the first spattering of cold rain and called for his dog but the animal had found something more interesting. With a tired grunt he trudged over the wet muddy grass to the where his animal had begun chewing on his new toy. When he got within 30 feet or so he could smell what he could only describe as death. When he was within 15 feet he could see the half buried body of a young girl and at 10 feet he was vomiting in a bush.

Mulder awoke to a pounding and for several minutes he sat in the hazy darkness of Autumn at dusk on the East Coast wondering whether the pounding was inside his head or his chest. He hadn't even remembered falling asleep. The last thing he remembered was laying on the couch in his office staring at the ceiling wondering what he had done with his life for the last 2 years, how he had lost the one reason for living, how he had driven her away. He had thought about her lost in the dark and in pain until he had felt sick. After a moment the door swung open and he looked up, a little confused and alarmed to see Skinner looming in the doorway lit from the low lighting in the hallway. His older face was set in grim resignation and Mulder leapt up.

"What? What is it?" Mulder, no longer sleep addled immediately thought the worst.

"They've found a body." Skinner started and Mulder's heart sank before grinding to a painful stop. "It's not her, but it's a young woman missing a right index finger." Skinner finished, watching as Mulder let a painful breath of relief before feeling immediately guilty; this was someone's daughter. Despite this thought, Mulder couldn't quell the relief coursing through his veins. It wasn't her; his friend and the woman who meant so much more. This information had significant meaning and he nodded furiously.

"Hang on," He found himself saying before he even knew what was happening and he grabbed his coat, following his superior from the office.

It was a little after 6.30 when the pair found themselves standing over the body of a young woman who had undoubtedly been eviscerated. Though the sunlight had thoroughly been swallowed by the darkness outside it was hard to tell with all the overhead bright lights. Mulder's attention was drawn to the missing finger; Skinner was right it definitely matched visually. Regardless, he had to physically restrain himself grabbing the appendage and attempting to prove his theory. He eyed the tired medical examiner carefully and found himself chomping at the bit eager to get to the truth.

"I'll compare the DNA from the finger to the body but I have to say gentlemen, it's a mighty big coincidence." The ME looked at them but Mulder gave no response. Skinner only grunted. "The autopsy can't be done until day after tomorrow – there's been a run on killings lately and I'm stacked!"

[Drawing]Mulder only smiled weakly at the man's attempts at humor.

"Alright, let me see if I can't get you some bodies to help you – we need this girl examined as soon as possible." Skinner said pushily. He knew he was being unfair but this was not an ordinary case. Mulder felt deflated however. He knew that even if the girl was connected the likelihood of evidence being left was incredibly small especially given the lack of evidence on the past victims. He stared at the young woman for a moment longer than necessary and tried not to imagine Scully on that table. He shivered and finally turned away. 


	10. Day 14

Day 14  
Mulder had feared it would take a week to get the results but he was back in the lab less than a day later, his interest palpable. Mulder drummed his fingers on the counter as he waited for the medical examiner. He felt so desolate and alone in that moment even with the arrival of Kennison.

"Sorry gentlemen, got held up in another autopsy." The medical examiner said breathlessly. He pulled a report from his desk and turned to the men. "You know Assistant Director Skinner is quite a force to be reckoned with – he got me two additional doctors down here this morning." Mulder nodded agreeably.

"I'll give him your thanks Doctor." He said as he took the report, superseding his colleague beside him.

"The finger does belong to the girl – that's the first good thing." The man told them as Mulder's eyes ran the length of the report.

"Okay, did you manage to get a hit on CODIS?" Kennison asked. Ordinarily it wouldn't be down to the ME so something told Mulder this guy had little experience with autopsies and medical examiners. None the less, given Skinner's ability get him extra bodies the doctor had gone above and beyond on this case. The news was negative however and Mulder sighed. He shared a glance with Kennison,, unsurprised to see the disappointment mirrored on the younger man's face. Kennison's disappointment however was borne out of professional anguish for not having caught the killer yet. Mulder's however came from a deep seeded place where his rational mind gave way to a fear he may not find Scully alive.

"There was however, this-" The doctor was saying and he dropped a small evidence bag with what appeared to be 3 molar teeth stuck on a metal frame, onto the counter. "This is not some two thousand-dollar bridgework here but this is not back street standard either. There's a serial number on them. That should go a long way to identifying this poor girl."

Mulder felt a surge of hope and lifted the bag to his eyes. Sure enough he could see the tiny serial number printed on the inside of the bridge. He handed it wordlessly to Kennison who examined it in much the same way.

"Other than that, cause of death I think is fairly evident. I see no signs of any drugs but have sent a full tox-screen for analysis. There was nothing remarkable about her clothes only that it looks like she had been in captivity for some time. She was only slightly malnourished and showing the first signs for dehydration so I would hazard a guess that she has probably been held for about a month, probably less but certainly no more than that. I did notice some action on her ribs which indicates the weapon of choice – in my opinion a serrated edged knife, probably a hunting knife – got stuck on the ribs at some point during either the killing or the disemboweling and it looks like he used quite some force to get it free because she had a broken rib. I made an impression for you to compare and judging from the direction of the wounds I'd say it's highly likely your killer is left handed. Sorry I can't give you more than that but get that serial number in the database and you should be one step closer to finding your missing agent."

"Could a woman do this?" Mulder suddenly asked, much to the surprise of his colleague. The doctor however didn't seem surprised, instead he considered his answer.

"I haven't seen this kind of brutality in a while, gentlemen – unless this woman was some kind of freak of nature I would say it was impossible for her to inflict this kind of damage. I would say you are definitely looking for a man."

It was helpful, and more importantly it was a lead but Mulder struggled to find any excitement in the chase – not this time and he simply thanked the doctor demurely and turned to his colleague.

"Get that down to the computer lab, see if we can identify this girl and find out why she was killed." He told him as the pair walked down the corridor. Kennison looked at him surprised.

"Why where are you going?" He blurted when Mulder abruptly turned and started walking down a different corridor.

"To see Graham!" he called behind him without waiting for a response. Kennison watched him go, wondering whether he should stop him or follow. He did neither and before midday Mulder was waving his badge to the hospital security like it was a key to the whole damn facility. It did however work and after signing himself in, and enduring a droning 'chat' with the administrator Dr Franklin, he found himself sat on a cold metal chair in a dark room with an identical chair on the other side of a metal table with a cast iron loop in the middle towards the other chair. A small barred window high up on the wall provided the smallest amount of natural light. It did not however have much impact against the weak incandescent glow from the lighting above that flickered every few minutes. Mulder had quickly developed a headache and looked at his watch for the millionth time; he had been waiting for half an hour already and he had to wait another 20 minutes before the door opened and a scarred, gnarled man shuffled in followed by a guard who handcuffed the greying man to the loop on the table before leaving. Had he not reread the case details recently Mulder doubted he would even recognize the man who looked much older than he though he knew they were about the same age. Nonetheless the man looked at Mulder with startling and aggressive recognition. It was so cold that Mulder stiffened in his chair slightly.

"Agent Mulder," The man said with a drawling sneer. Mulder regarded him quietly for a moment, more to allow himself the chance to cool his anger than anything else.

"Graham," He finally said after a few controlled moments.

"What can I do for you?" The prisoner said picking invisible lint from his bright white jumpsuit with his cuffed hands.

"I think you know why I'm here so let's just cut the bullshit and you won't be prosecuted for kidnap, extortion, blackmail and accessory to murder. I'll make you won't get off with this act again!" Mulder threatened in a dangerous voice. Even to his ears however, it sounded weak. It was hard to wound a man who had nothing left to lose; Mulder himself had realized that in himself many times before. Apparently Graham knew it too for he sat back and laughed mirthlessly once then fixed his dead gaze on Mulder again.

"Uh huh." He said calmly, no flicker of pain or anger which only fueled Mulder's anger hough he worked tirelessly to hide it. "What is it I'm supposed to have done Mr Mulder?" Arrogance and vicious innocence oozed from every pore.

"A former agent has been kidnapped and is being held by some sick bastard acting on your behalf. This man is a murderer. You are so damaged by the fact that my profile put you in here and you've taken it upon yourself to have a woman abducted, a very respected doctor who means more to me than you've ever meant to anyone, subjected her to God knows what and this man, this psychopath who's taken her has killed at least one other woman so you bet I'm going to make damn sure that the law comes down on you like a ton of bricks! When I'm finished you won't even have a toilet to shit in. I promise you that." Mulder's anger rose with each word and so did his voice until he was thrusting an angry finger across the table. It never occurred to the orderly standing just outside the door to step in.

"That's quite an theory you have there Fox but how exactly do you propose I orchestrated such an elaborate scheme? I am you see, in chains." Will Graham smiled sardonically and pulled on the chain to prove his point.

"You know full well! You found someone on the outside who could pull off this bullshit for you! If you tell me your accomplice then all this can go away." Mulder snapped and Graham knew full well he was agitated and that apparently pleased him. He started laughing, jovially at first as if the two were sharing a pleasant chat but he didn't stop as his voice became higher and more erratic until Mulder couldn't bare to hear the sound any longer.

"You're right, you don't know anything and you're just a sad and pathetic man who's wasting my time." Mulder said with angry resignation and sat back passively. After a long moment Mulder shook his head then got up. Graham didn't speak until Mulder's hand had enclosed around the metallic doorknob.

"You're the reason I'm here you know." Even when accusatory his voice was devoid of emotion.

"You put yourself here you son of a bitch." Mulder growled without turning around. He had had enough and was about ready to draw this wild goose chase to an end.

"You get me day release and I'll tell you where Dr Scully is." The words fell from the man's cracked mouth with little emotion but from the moment they were in the air Mulder felt his heart hammer in his chest.

"What?" He barely managed, his attention well and truly grabbed.

The prisoner-patient shook his head side to side. "Get me day release and I'll tell you where she is." Graham grinned and Mulder felt a sickening urge to punch the man. Instead he took deep breath and forced himself to leave, compelled his mind to keep a rational train of thought as he raced back through security. He pulled out his phone and his finger was poised to press 'dial' when it started ringing in his hand. With a start he almost dropped the phone but recovered coolly in time to answer it.

"Mulder," he greeted calmly despite the growing fire inside him.

"Agent Mulder, we've identified the girl – Lucy Spreichenberg." The name was uttered with particular emphasis but Mulder drew a blank and said as much, warranting a lengthy explanation from his new colleague. "Lucy Spreichenberg's brother Gerald Spreichenberg was a small time drug dealer mainly working out of his home district in Bensley but he got caught up in some heavy shit, got addicted to his own product and ended up raping 3 young coeds from Virginia State. He managed to use his addiction to drugs to get locked up at Baltimore State Mental Hospital for the Criminally Insane instead of jail and one of the girls killed herself when she heard."

"Wait Baltimore State?" Mulder blurted before adding without much thought for the consequences, "That's where I am!"

"What do you mean? Why are you there Mulder?" Roberts demanded and he deliberated his answer slowly.

"Listen to me Roberts, Will Graham has something to do with Scully's disappearance, he told me if I can get him a day release he'll tell me where she is." Mulder finally said awaiting the onslaught of anger and disappointment.

"Mulder! You were told not to go and see him! Assistant Directors Skinner and Grimes specifically forbade it. You're going to get your ass chewed out and mine for letting you get away with it!" Roberts snapped and Mulder rolled his eyes and growled.

"Forget that! Get down here, so we can see this Spreichenberg guy." Mulder said in a no-nonsense attitude and Roberts sighed before agreeing on a meeting place and a time before hanging up. Mulder sighed when he hung up, feeling frustrated at having his leash tugged on. It was something that Scully had done many times but if felt different now. Scully had always been his centre, kept him on an even keel and it had felt natural; it fueled their friendship and later their love for a very long time but with Roberts it felt sharp, jarring and was often unwelcome. He slid back into his car seat leaving the door open for the Virginian air to permeate his cloudy mind and he sat for a long while waiting. He closed his eyes for a minute but when he saw her face swimming in front of him turn to a murder scene he snapped them back open again. Eventually he looked at his watch and got out the car pulling his badge back out as he approached the security desk again with a false smile.

Roberts discovered first hand when he arrived at the hospital that Mulder really did not play by the book; he had disregarded the rules every chance he got but none more than when his friend was in danger. He huffed to himself when he discovered from one of the orderlies that Mulder was already in with the suspect but when he pushed open the door into the visitation room Mulder was in fact just sat opposite the rough looking man in total silence. The patient however was twitchy and restless. Mulder wordlessly and calmly looked at his partner. Roberts sighed and slid casually into the cold hard chair next to him turning to face Gerald with a steely gaze.

"Listen guys… I had no idea that guy was planning that I swear! I liked Doctor Bloom I didn't want her to get hurt." The man ranted, his mind obviously damaged from past drug abuse but clouded by current medication. Roberts looked confused at Mulder.

"What's he talking about?" He asked and Mulder unfolded his arms.

"One of the patients attacked Doctor Bloom, a psychiatrist, the other night in the recreation room, ripped her nose clean off with his teeth." He explained before turning his own attentions to the patient, ignoring the horrified look on his partner's face.

"You guys aren't here about Dr Bloom?" The man asked sheepishly and both agents shook their heads.

"No Mr Spreichenberg we're here because your sister is dead, murdered in fact." Roberts said sharply and Mulder winced somewhat; he would have announced it a little less harshly. He watched the damaged man's face as he first stared ahead in a mixture of anger and sadness before turning his head away muttering 'son of a bitch!' under his breath.

The agents waited a respectful moment before proceeding. "Do you know why anyone would want to hurt your sister?" Roberts asked and Mulder felt the familiar gnawing of impatience at the pit of his stomach.

Gerald looked away for a moment then looked dead at them, eyes red rimmed.

"No, she was liked by everyone." He said with a hard tone. Mulder noted that; a lie. He frowned then sighed.

"Gerald, don't lie to us, we know someone was using your sister to get to you and now she's dead. This person murdered her and now this same person has a friend of mine and I would very much like to see her again." He finally said, his passion bleeding through his words. Roberts puffed up slightly; he did not like Mulder divulging personal or emotional sob stories to get what he wanted. Gerald shifted in his seat.

"Look man," He started with a mirthless laugh as he leaned forward, eyes misty from a combination of tears and anti-psychotic medication. "I'm not a good person, I did some shitty things. I was in a bad place and Lucy didn't speak to me. God told me to attack those girls – I had to do what he said and that was five years ago. I hate myself for it every day even though I know I was sick." He paused, looking about ready to launch a rant but took a deep breath instead. "About 3 weeks ago, out the blue I get this letter with some hairs in and a charm bracelet that belonged to my sister. This letter told me to repent for my sins. I figured it was Lucy's weird idea of a joke, trying to get me to feel guilty or something. Then I started getting calls from this guy who called himself the contractor. He said he had my sister and that I had 3 weeks to reform myself. I asked just how the hell I was supposed to do that when I'm in here but he never answered. Three days ago I get a letter saying I had to sacrifice myself to save her. I figured this guy was yanking my chain, that he wouldn't know if I did or didn't sacrifice myself so I ignored it until today. I can't believe he killed her." He trailed off, looking down at his chain wrists on the table.

"You're telling me that the orderlies and doctors don't read your mail or monitor your calls?" Roberts asked disbelieving but Gerald shrugged. Mulder scoffed to himself as he cast his gaze around the room; it was on a different floor to the one he was in earlier but it looked identical and just as cold. Acrossfrom him this man sat trying to force tears over his dead sister. He felt a distinct disdain for him.

"You didn't believe your sister was in any danger?" Roberts continued, sensing the tension from his colleague. Gerald stopped weeping and looked up.

"She sounded fine when I spoke to her a few weeks ago, so I presumed it was a prank." He said simply, trying to shake off the memory.

"You spoke to her?" Mulder blurted and Gerald looked confused.

"Yeah when this guy first contacted me about 2 weeks ago to say he had her. He let me speak to her and she seemed pretty fine." He shrugged and Mulder fought hard not to remember how Scully had sounded when he had spoke to her.

"Okay did she say anything that might help us catch the guy who did this?" Roberts asked ignoring the seething hatred from besides him. Gerald appeared to be searching his mind.

"No I don't think so. She just asked how I was which I thought was a little odd considering she had never been to see me and she was the one who got kidnapped which is why I thought it was a joke or something." He said, adding a 'damn' under his breath. "I know who got this guy involved though."

At that Mulder looked up sharply. "Who?" He asked desperately.

"The mother of the girl I-err assaulted. The one who killed herself, it's gotta be." Gerald said with a cold edge and the agents thought about it separately for a minute; it made sense which meant that Graham could still be the guy behind Scully's abduction despite not having the literal freedom to do so. As he processed this thought Mulder thought about what Graham had said 'get me a day release and I'll tell you where she is'. He frowned as the words ran around his head again and again.

"Okay Gerald, thank you for your time, we'll be in touch if we need any more information." Roberts said abruptly standing and jarring Mulder from his thoughts. He signaled to the guard and Mulder reluctantly rose from his seat. "Our condolences for your loss." Roberts added as the pair walked from the room.

The two men walked silently through security, each wrapped up in their own individual trains of thought until they reached the hospitals gothic entrance and Roberts spoke finally, almost begrudgingly.

"So I'm going to get a beer and go home, tomorrow we'll find this woman and go talk to her, you wanna come for a beer?" He asked with a tired sigh. Mulder didn't respond right away; he appeared to be reconciling something in his head.

"Erm no, I need to speak to Skinner. I'll catch up with you later." He finally said hesitantly but declined to elaborate despite the intense questioning gaze his partner gave him.

-

Mulder sat outside the bureau headquarters for what felt like an age. He was anxious about the conversation he needed to have but he didn't fancy the commute back to Scully's apartment without asking. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel to a song only he could hear when he finally decided to get out and go in. Despite the late hour Skinner showed no sign of going home but Mulder was glad for the virtually empty building none the less.

"Skinner, Sir?" He asked tentatively as he interrupted the older man's note taking.

"Mulder." The bald man replied in a guarded tone which betrayed his surprise as seeing the younger man. "I specifically told you not to go and see Will Graham." He said after a long moment; it wasn't a rebuke – Skinner was beyond verbally battering his subordinate since he know it didn't work.

"I know, I know, but he knows where she is!" Mulder pleaded, skinner looked dubiously back behind his glasses but Mulder pressed on. "He said her name, he said he knew where she was." Skinner didn't, like some would, dismiss him out of hand; he had brought cases to conclusion on less. Instead he remained silent. "How could he have known her name? I didn't tell him and it hasn't been released in any papers yet." Skinner considered that.

"Okay, suppose he knows, what does he want?" He said and Mulder slumped into the chair in front of the desk without invitation.

"He wants a deal – he wants day releases." Now the words were out there he instantly wished they weren't.

"Mulder, no district attorney or director of the FBI is going to go for that! I wish I could change that, I really do but I can't; the man's an insane murderer." Skinner said regretfully and Mulder nodded like a child who had just found out his favorite dog had died.

"I know, I just thought I'd ask." He said looking down at his hands. "I just- I really want to find her."

Skinner could see the anger, the guilt, fear and love that clouded his mind and sat back with a heavy sigh. "What about a bluff?" He said finally, without hope. Mulder looked at his superior skeptically.

"What do you mean?" He said and Skinner thought hard for a moment.

"We get him a letter drafted up from the office saying he can have x amount of time in the public whatever." Skinner said holding his hands up. Mulder shook his head.

"He's too smart to fall for that." He said. Skinner remained silent then a dark shadow befell his face as he leant forward conspiratorially and began to speak.

"What if we were to get him outside in the open? I can get a letter drafted from the Director's office to ask that Graham be released with you and then you get the information you need, you put him back in." Skinner said and Mulder's jaw hung open slightly at the suggestion.

"Sir, I believe his intention for day release is to have opportunity to escape." He said and Skinner nodded.

"I would imagine so. It's your job to make sure he doesn't. If this doesn't work Agent Mulder, I don't need to remind you that I could lose my job." Skinner warned.

"And if it does?" Mulder responded. Skinner sat back.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'll have the letter ready for you in the morning." An unspoken agreement passed between the two men, each nodding their approval before Mulder left the office and Skinner followed a mere hour later.


	11. Day 16

Day 16

Looking as official as he ever could, two letters in one hand and his badge in the other Mulder strode into Dr Franklin's office with purpose. The arrogant man invited him to sit and Mulder, keeping the letter addressed to Graham in his hand, handed over the letter demanding Graham be released to Mulder for a period of one hour. Dr Franklin read it with a look of amused confusion.

"Agent Mulder I'm a bit confused – you want me to release a dangerous mass murderer with a disturbed mind into your care for one hour for what purpose?" he asked cocking his head to the side like an intrigued puppy. Except he had no class of an animal.

"That's right Doctor, he has information that could help a case of ours but I need your cooperation." Mulder leaned forward, straightening his tie as he puffed up the doctor's ego.

"What is it I can do for you?" The doctor asked with a hint of a smile. Mulder sighed with relief; half the battle may have been already won. He sensed that the doctor had a love for theatrics and drama.

"I need 8 of your best guards to surround an area unseen until I give the word to take Mr Graham back into custody." Mulder said simply.

"We don't use the term custody here agent Mulder, we prefer to refer to these patients as being in our care." The doctor corrected with a wet smile.

"As you wish. Are you able to help me arrange this meeting or not?" Mulder said somewhat impatiently.

Doctor Franklin looked at the letter again as if pretending to deliberate before grinning with pure excitement.

"Of course."

He was told to wait by the staff entrance at the back of the parking lot and he felt he had been waiting for almost an hour before the door was slung open and an orderly shoved Graham, handcuffed, through it. Graham cast a look of aggression at the orderly before he disappeared back inside the dark hole and walked the rest of the way on his own unaided to meet Mulder sat on an old overturned log that some of the orderlies had turned into a makeshift bench. As the patient approached Mulder noticed the hint of a bruise and a cut on the man's cheek. He must have been frowning because Graham touched it self-consciously then scoffed before sitting.

"Some troublesome sex predator tried to take me on over dinner. I kicked the shit out of him but he managed to get a swing in." He said blankly. Mulder didn't respond, simply waved the letter at the man.

"Agent Mulder, I see you are a man of your word." Graham said with coldness but Mulder couldn't fail to see the delight at the feel of the sun on his skin or the smell of fresh air in his nostrils.

"I'm hoping you will keep yours." Mulder said sardonically showing the letter to the murderer then opening it for him. He handed the folded letter to the patient then watched as Graham read over the words; the fake offer of 3 hours a month on the outside. Mulder knew it wouldn't matter to Graham what was in the letter since he had no intention of going back inside but it helped add to the authentic feel of this charade. Graham nodded as if taking inventory.

"I have a question that's been gnawing away at me Will." Mulder said impatiently. Graham looked at the agent curiously. "How did you know to get to me? How did you know to involve Scully?" He asked with genuine interest.

Graham looked aggravated but obliged. "7 years after I was slung in this place I was moved to a prison unit, deemed sane enough to hang with murderers of my own kind. One day you come waltzing in with this pretty little redhead to investigate some murderer who could do shit with his mind or something. I saw the way your hand was on the small of her back, how you looked at her when she spoke like you were hanging on every word she said. You didn't even notice me and I hadn't thought of you in over ten years but then all this stuff came right back up the surface and I remembered what you did to me, what you'd taken from me and I vowed never to let you forget it. I knew her name from one of the guys you spoke to but it took me a long time to find her again when I got transferred back here again after I ripped the tongue out of a prisoner's mouth and made him eat his own words." Mulder remembered the man who could kill people with his mind but he didn't remember ever seeing Graham, not that he was sure he'd have recognized him anyway.

"How did you find her?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"I didn't, he did." Graham grinned. He looked at his letter again, recognizing the lengths Mulder had gone to secure his requests in order to find this woman and sighed. "You know I almost wish I hadn't involved this guy. She really was very pretty." He did his best to sound remorseful but Mulder had little time for the dog and pony show. He leaned in menacingly.

"Where is she Will? Who's 'He'?" He growled and the patient held his gaze for a long moment then he gaze a harsh barking laugh that lacked any inch of humor.

"You held up your end of the bargain and I wish I knew so I could tell you, I really do but the truth is I don't know. I got some guy to ruin your life like you ruined mine." He said grimly and Mulder knew instantly he was telling the truth. Despite growing anger and frustration building in him he remained calm, chewing on his lower lip. _Like Scully used to._

"Okay, how did you find this guy? In the yellow pages?!" He asked sharply and Graham looked at the hazy sky.

"I was an FBI agent once, I'm not stupid. I read papers. I knew about this guy going around murdering people. I placed an ad. He replied."

Mulder processed the information then abruptly stood giving a vague gesture with his hand. Before Graham's very eyes 8 guards appeared in a uniform circle around the edges of the lot. He looked confused at Mulder who took the letter from the man's hands and ripped it up.

"You tricked me." Graham said in slow recognition and Mulder held his steely gaze. "You bastard."

"Takes one to fool one." He muttered then indicated the nearest guard to take Graham back into the hospital. As the man was being escorted back in Mulder turned back.

"Maybe you can ask Dr Lecter what freedom tastes like." He shouted at the man's back. He watched as Graham showed the first real signs of emotion as if Lecter was a trigger word for his anger and he struggled against the guards that now swamped him. Mulder didn't care anymore; he felt a familiar mix of desperation and frustration but also relief that he was no longer under Graham's control.

When he told Skinner the older man cursed in anger and the conversation between them died momentarily as each processed their thoughts and potential next move.

"Roberts went to see the mother of the girl who killed herself. She denied everything and lawyered up quicker than you or I could say guilty." Another dead end. Mulder hadn't thought the lead would bear fruit but it was disappointing to hear.

"What about looking over the old cases? There might be something there." He asked.

"AD Grimes has already got Kennison on it." Skinner said and Mulder nodded slowly.

"I wondered where he had gone." He said for the sake of speaking, unable to bear the pregnant silences, then he added as if an afterthought, "Graham admitted instigating and hiring someone to attack Scully to get to me –I don't know if you wanted to start some proceedings or not.

"You bet I will." Skinner said and Mulder nodded before leaving wordlessly to skulk back to his basement office. When he got nearer he noticed the post guy and his heart dropped as he watched the young man pulling a brown package from his pile and went to drop it into Mulder's letter box. The postal guy noticed Mulder at the last minute, retrieved the package from the slot and approached the tired agent.

"Here you go Agent Mulder." He handed over the package with a smile, one Mulder couldn't share as he felt his heart drop through the floor and wordlessly took the proffered envelope. The man had moved on before Mulder regained his breath and all but fell into his office chair where he stared at the unopened package for several minutes longer than would be necessary to gain any kind of professional impressions beyond noting it had been hand delivered though he doubted this guy came in person but rather employed some homeless guy to do with the promise of food or drink. With a heavy sigh he pulled a pair of rubber gloves from a discarded box on the side and used a pencil to slit open the top noisily. He peered inside and was surprised to only see a single sheet of paper inside. Without waiting for a beat he pulled it out.

 _Dear Mr Mulder,_

 _Are you prepared to make a sacrifice?_

 _4857 Peak Drive South_

 _Roanoke_  
VA24014

Mulder stared at the address, the words. Why now was this guy giving him answers? Did his visit to to Graham somehow accelerate things? He swallowed then reached into his computer to type the address; it was out in the sticks with nothing of interest around and he frowned. Was it a trap?

With a satisfying click the metal strip Scully had fashioned, unlocked the cell door. She gave herself a triumphant smile, the first of which to grace her face in what felt like years; maybe it was years, maybe the last time she had smiled was the last time she had been happy with him. Across the way Mike rolled his eyes; he had seen Scully work and bend the metal she had pulled from her bra for 3 days with little progress but as the door swung open with a creak he sat up wide-eyed and ready to take notice,

"Wha? Don't leave me here!" he cried and she hushed him snappishly, insisting she would come back for him though she sensed his disbelief. The building was a maze with many doors and she had no idea which door her captor would come from. She slowly and quietly turned the knob of the nearest door but it didn't open. She quelled the rising disheartening fear she felt as door after door was found locked until she found herself in the office where she had been subjected to the frightening lucidity of the man holding them prisoner. Her breath hitched when she pushed the door open half expecting to find Anton Kurelov sat at his desk and that a grisly end would befall her. He was however no where to be seen and she let out the breath she'd held and slipped into the room quietly. She cringed as the door closed shut with a low creak and froze listening for any sign of life. She heard no movement and immediately began evaluating the room for a weapon. Her eyes finally settled on a metal baseball bat and she had a momentary flashback to a time when she someone she loved tried to teach her to 'shag balls'. She shook the memory away and tried to ignore the matted, coagulated blood and hairs at the thick end from a previous kill and raced for the old Bakelite phone on the desk. With as much speed as she could without causing too much noise she turned the dialing circle 3 times to dial 911 and waited.

"911 what's your emergency?" The metallic voice on the other end said and Scully almost dropped the phone in surprise. Before she could say anything however she heard the telltale signs of heavy footsteps and placed the handset down on the desk before squeezing herself into the space between where the door would open and the wall, her hand clamped over her mouth. Kurelov strode into the room and looked around like a predator looking for an easy kill. He reached over and pulled a 9-inch serrated hunting knife from the drawer and was about to leave with a sulky growl.

"Hello ma'am?! Are you there?" The tinny voice of a woman from the desk said, catching Kurelov's attention. Scully's heart pounded as he turned to the desk, spotting the phone handset which he slammed back on the receiver.

"God damnit!" he hissed and she crept forward, taking advantage of his distraction. When she was free for a full swing she put her full petite force into the swing of the bat. He turned at the last minute and she didn't react fast enough. He grabbed the bat midair causing her stumble back in surprise. He backhanded her hard but she only gave a gasp when he grabbed the back of her neck and hair and slammed her into the wall. He came up behind her, his hold on her heavy and iron-like. He ran the knife flat up against her cheek and she tried to turn away as he pressed into her.

"I hate little bitches that don't play nice." He murmured and removed his knife from her skin before settling on an altogether more sensitive spot on her navel. Before he had the change to plunge the blade in she stamped her food down on his and with the extra room brought her knee up into his groin with a ferocious strength she had forgotten. With him bent over she quickly picked up the bat and he was unable to react fast enough to avoid it being brought down on his head. He fell to the ground like a brick and instinctively Scully reached in to check for a pulse. In her panic she couldn't find one. After a second attempt she froze as she heard someone calling her name desperately, someone familiar. Her breath hitched and she ran out into the corridor wondering whether she was hallucinating.

Mulder left the note addressed to Skinner on his desk telling skinner of Scully's supposed whereabouts in case she was not released by morning and he set out for Roanoke. It was a town he had never been to but the places he passed reminded him of the rural house he and Scully used to live when they were happy, or at least when he had thought they were happy. He felt that familiar pang of heartache that he had learnt to push down over the years until those FBI agents had walked into his lecture hall just under 3 weeks ago. But it was more than that; he felt a strange sense of home sickness. Like the only place he belonged had been in that rural Virginian home with no one else but her. He then realized with a start that he had not thought of his home in Hanover, hardly even considered it his home deep down. After a long and arduous drive he came to a slow stop outside the farmhouse the GPS has directed him to. He cast a glance down the long dark driveway; there were no lights on and he wasn't convinced it was the right building.

Nevertheless, he parked his rental and approached the house, knocking twice and waiting but when he got no response he peered in through the window. There was no movement, no noise and he came to a stop around the back unsure what to do. The darkness hindered his sightline but he could make out a few barns on the edge of the property line. Beyond that was a high thick row of fir trees.

"Scully!" he shouted with every ounce of energy he had left. He listened in the dark, the only sound being crickets and the occasional night-owl hooting. Mulder scrubbed a hand over his face fearing he was being led on a wild goose chase.

"Scully!" he shouted desperately and sighed heavily after another heavy silence filled with quiet longing and deafening fear. Mulder went to leave, defeated when he heard something; a voice calling distantly from his past. He turned his head to listen but couldn't pinpoint the direction. He listened hard. It sounded like his name and it only took a few seconds for his mind to reconcile the caller. His heart raced in anticipation and he felt sick with relief.

"Scully!" He cried, desperately scanning the area. She called again and he raced towards to the back property line where the thick grove of trees gave way to a builders fence marked with 'no trespassing' signs. He called again and raced through the open gate to what apparently used to be Roanoke Life Sciences to come face to face with a grey and incredibly aged building which still professed to be Virginia's leading animal testing facility despite having been abandoned for what seemed like decades. The unit was huge and he looked around, listening for his name again. A voice came from his left and he jogged over to an outbuilding, a dank grey concrete prison labeled 'dogs'. Before he got there the door was pushed open and she fell, bloodied and bruised into the cool air. His breath stopped when he saw her; it was the first time in two years and she was still every bit as beautiful as in his memories.

"Scully," he barely croaked, his voice failing him as every emotion he had ever felt for her came rushing back in a flood that rivaled adrenaline.

She looked at him for a long moment before dropping the metal bat onto the gravel with a dull 'thunk' and ran towards him. With about 200 yards or so between them Mulder matched her speed and they collided in seconds. Scully thrust her arms around his neck and pressed her face tightly against the crook of his neck. He held her tightly, one hand resting on her back and the other tangled in her knotted hair. He noticed with a level of sad poignancy that she didn't quite fit like she used to. She began to cry softly, gripping him so tight he was afraid of passing out.

"It's okay, I got you." He murmured with a cracking voice as tears sprung to his own eyes. After several minutes he eventually pulled away placing both hadn't on her face. "Are you okay?" He stroked her face gently, noting the developing bruises.

She nodded, the shock starting to wear off somewhat. "I think I killed him." He didn't need to ask what she was talking about.

"Okay I'll call for help." He removed a hand from her face to get his phone but she instantly missed the contact.

"Shit." He muttered turning the phone around so she could see the battery was dead and she deflated slightly, turning back to the building from which she had come.

"There's a phone in the office." She said uncertainly and Mulder shared her uncertainty, not keen to drag her back into the cage from which she had just broken free.

"My car's just up here, forget him, let's just leave." He said after a long moment. 

"There's another prisoner." She said avoiding his gaze and doing her best to distance herself emotionally from the situation.

Mulder's sense of duty and care crept up on him and he sighed. "Damn." He muttered then turned to her. "Okay." Was all he said and the pair took off cautiously towards the wooden concrete building. Mulder led the way with a small flashlight with Scully bringing up the rear like the old times. As they worked their way through the maze of corridors and old offices Scully reached for his hand either seeking solace or to guide the way, maybe both. Regardless Mulder felt a spark at the contact and she motioned wordlessly to the door which he should go through. He sidled up alongside it like he'd done on thousands of raids before settling on his mundane job as a teacher. He let go of Scully's hand to reach for his gun; an object he had only recently reacquired but it felt like an appendage that had been reunited after being lost for so long. He drew it up parallel to his face unaware of what he might find on the other side. With a deep breath he reached for the doorknob, pushing the door open half expecting something to jump out on him but the office was empty and Mulder rushed into the room to use the phone, holstering his gun. Scully trailed behind him, her face contorted in shock and fear when she peered around him to see the man was no longer lying on the floor.

"Oh my god." She whispered thickly and Mulder paused mid dial to look at her.

"What, what is it?" he asked noting the panic on her face.

"I-I-he was right there. I hit him around the head, and he had no pulse!" she stammered wondering whether her shock had rendered her ability to be a rational doctor useless. Mulder paused, momentarily torn between getting help and recognizing the danger, wanting to leave stat. After a beat he replaced the phone on the cradle and turned to face her.

"Okay, listen to me Dana." He started. It hurt her to hear him use her proper name. "We gotta get outta here and we'll drive to the nearest police station in town." She didn't object and this time he took her hand tightly and together they fumbled through the dark labyrinth to the exit. The pair burst into the clearing and fought their way through the trees. They didn't stop running until they had reached the old farm house 50 yards off the road. Mulder came to a dead halt and patted his jacket pockets and trousers.

"Shit!" he hissed angrily and she looked at him questioningly, her breath coming out in ragged gasps. "I must have dropped the keys." He ran a hand over his face in frustration before pulling his gun from the holster and pressed it heavily into her hands. "Wait here, I'll go back and see if can find them." Before she could say anything he started to jog back towards to the laboratory. He had gone five or six steps before she called him back with uncharacteristic vulnerability.

"Mulder don't go back in there, let's just walk." She said softly as he reached her side once more. Mulder looked around, trying to calculate the distance but when he looked at her bloodied, bruised and looking exhausted he made up his mind. She needed medical attention and he wouldn't subject her to an exhausting walk into town. He chewed his lip then focused on the house in front of them.

"There's gotta be a phone in that house." He said more to himself than Scully. She followed his eye line but before she answered he had started to walk towards it.

"Mulder?" She called, confused and he told her to wait there. Cautiously he took the steps two at a time and knowing the door wouldn't yield thrust his shoulder forward splintering the wood and smashing the glass panes. From inside the house came the shadow of movement and before he could get a step beyond the threshold he came face to face with the man who had been holding Scully captive though he was unaware at that moment.

"Mulder!" Scully shouted fearfully. Her tone told him everything he needed know and he reached for the gun that wasn't there. The man already had the knife in his hand gaining the advantage automatically. It seemed like slow motion as the man thrust his hand towards the agent, plunging the knife deep into Mulder's right flank, eyes wide in shock before the dull pain set in. He fell to his knees momentarily before falling flat on his back on the wooden decking. Pain dulled his senses and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. From somewhere in his past, or his present he couldn't tell, a woman shouted "No!". Scully ran up the steps and fell to her knees by his side. Kurolev looked down at her as she cradled Mulder's head in her lap, her thumb stroking his cheek. Her eyes locked with the man who kept her prisoner.

"Game over Doctor Scully." He said with a mirthless smile and stepped over her. She heaved a sob in disbelief as the man began walking away until she remembered the gun and aimed it at him. But in her mind of altered rational and mentality she struggled to remember the training from so long ago. She fired repeatedly anyway until the gun clicked loudly telling her it was empty and she threw it down on the wood with a dull thud. She shrugged off her Jacket with already bloodied hands and tried to ignore the growing red sea staining the wooden decking as she pressed the fabric over the wound causing Mulder to wince noticeably.

"Stay with me Mulder." She murmured emotionally and his eyes spun desperately trying to focus on her face.

"Scu-Scully." He spluttered against the fading pain. She smiled against the rising tide of tears. He lifted a red hand to touch her face. "I love you." He whispered so delicately she wasn't sure she had heard him.

"Agent Mulder!" another recognizable voice called.

"Over here!" She called tearfully and after a few minutes a harassed Skinner burst into view, his gun drawn.

"I heard shots." He said before surveying the scene before him. Scully looked desperately at him, her hands pressing down hard to try and save the life of the man before her. Skinner holstered his gun and ran towards her, shrugging his own jacket and placing it around her shoulders though she wasn't cold. Skinner pulled out his phone dialing 911 for help.

"How did you find me?" Scully asked breathlessly, adrenaline either kicking in or wearing off.

"Mulder left me a note with this address, it didn't sound like he was coming back so I rushed out here, what happened?

"This guy, his name is Anton Kurelov, he attacked Mulder and I fired his gun 7 or 8 times, I don't think I hit him, he ran off in that direction." Scully said in a fragment of her former investigative self. As she listened to Skinner talk to the dispatcher she looked down at the man in the lap; he was pale, his breathing was labored and his pulse was thready but his eyes were still open though his gaze unfixed and glazed. After what felt like hours there was a growing haze of red and blue lights on the horizon and soon a steady scream of sirens as the paramedics and police pulled to a halt outside the farm house. Scully however would not relinquish care of her former partner until Skinner carefully pulled her away to watch as Mulder was lifted into an ambulance. Scully, her white blouse now stained red, informed Skinner of the other prisoner before climbing into the ambulance.


	12. Day 21 (Epilogue)

Epilogue

Day 21

Mulder sat staring at the view from his hospital room and sighed heavily. His ribs and side hurt with each breath he took but he felt better physically than he had done in the last five days and better than he had felt mentally in two years. He stared at the young couple walking their dog in the park below his two-story room and a ghost of a smile graced his lips. There was a knock at his door and he turned aching to face the visitor.

"Knock, knock." Scully said gently as she pushed open the door with a smile that made his heart pump faster. 

"Hey." He said, noting with some amusement that her jacketappeared to be rather bulky and was moving. He watched silently as she came around to the window standing conspiratorially in front of him.

"Someone couldn't wait to see you." She said before parting her jacket revealing Ishmael's excited face. Mulder grinned and leaned over to stroke the animal's head.

"Hey buddy," he cooed as she placed the struggling animal on the bed beside him. "You know, animals aren't allowed in here, you've become a rebel in recent years." He teased and both fell silent for a moment, remembering the time they were apart.

"You all set?" Scully finally said breaking the silence and put a hand on his shoulder tenderly. It was a tentative touch, one that showed she wasn't quite confident with their new stance yet but it showed she was bridging the gap between them. He felt the warmth from her hand flow through his soul.

"Yeah I had a sponge bath this morning and was dressed dutifully by Nurse Nancy." He grinned youthfully, all traces of the past three weeks' desolation erased almost entirely save for the stitches in his side and his aching head.

"Funny." She said playfully but casually as she tried to tread the dangerous waters surrounding their relationship before adding more seriously, "Anyway I've signed you out." He smirked at her and stood with a slight groan using her arm for support but once standing he needed little help. Before she could protest he turned around picked up Ishmael, gathering the little creature under his arm. "Mulder," she said reproachfully, in full doctor mode and he waved her off.

"He weighs like 13 pounds; I like to think I'm manly enough to handle that." He told her with mock offense and she shrugged, picking up his night bag from the space beside the bed, slipping the long strap over her shoulder and cast a last glance at the room that had become their home for such a short amount of time.

"Let's go home." She said lightly and when Mulder took her hand in his and entwined their fingers together she leaned into him slightly, feeling as if she was home. They still had their problems but this was their way of acknowledging they would be working through them together from now on.

The end.


End file.
